


In the End

by rayisokay



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, But i hope y'all enjoy anyways, F/M, Fluffy Ending, Hq rarepair exchange 2017, It's not really that angsty, Light Angst, Not my proudest work cause the posting date caught up to me, One Shot, Soulmates, but he'll be okay, tsukki is just a bit cynical
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-01
Updated: 2017-03-01
Packaged: 2018-09-26 13:13:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9898673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rayisokay/pseuds/rayisokay
Summary: When a person turns sixteen, a bond is formed. Any mark on their skin will appear on their soulmate’s, and vice versa. Supposedly, the bond couldn't make mistakes.Kei thought otherwise. His theory was proven by his mother's grief and the fact that he ended up with a soulmate anyways.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [irishbandlover23](https://archiveofourown.org/users/irishbandlover23/gifts).



> @irishbandlover23, I was your gifter! I hope you enjoy!

Tsukishima Kei was not a talkative person.

He didn't talk about his day at school with his family, he didn't make small talk with people on the train, and he didn't complain to waitresses when his food was cold. So, when he felt a tickle on his left arm one night, he didn't think twice about keeping quiet.

Instead, he observed the marks. _“Write thank you cards,”_ it read, in small, neat script on the inside of his wrist. Immediately below the reminder was a short list of names that trailed down his veins. His first thoughts were along the lines of him never writing a thank you card in his life.

Then came the panic.

_It's my soulmate,_ he thought, trembling. _I have a soulmate_.

In all actuality, Kei had never cared much for the hype revolving soulmates. His own sixteenth birthday wasn't for another three weeks, and he didn't plan on trying to contact his before that. He never even considered that his soulmate might turn sixteen before him, thus binding the two even sooner. But he didn't want that extra time.

If he initiated conversation with his newfound soulmate, an emotional connection of some kind was inevitable. It was written in the laws of science, or fate, or whatever caused the link between people's skins. Soulmates were literally embedded into your skin -- an extension of yourself with a mind of their own. In the same way, he would be attached to them.

Kei saw the effects of soul connections every day. Akiteru would grow giddy every time his soulmate wrote on his skin. As the years went on, he would glow with literal love and affection for a woman he had yet to physically meet. That couldn't be owed to some predestined bond.

And still, he saw his mother. She smiled every time Akiteru rambled about his soulmate; she always smiled like nothing could go wrong. All the while her fingers ghosted over her left wrist, where her soulmate’s last message to her scarred themselves into her skin the moment his heart stopped beating.

Kei’s soulmate didn't seem to be trying to contact him though. That would make it so easy to ignore the tickle on his wrist, the thin lines that weren't quite ink.

But someone who spent the time to remind themselves to write thank you cards, of all things, must have some kind of pure heart. Kei couldn't find it in him to crush that, so, before he could talk himself out of it, he grabbed a pen. _“Happy birthday, I think.”_

It was simple enough, but Kei found his heart beating faster my the second. His soulmate would know of his existence with four words.

Not a minute later, tickling returned to his forearm. The writing wasn't as neat; their hand was shaking. _“Soulmate. Ohhh my gosh. I forgot this was supposed to happen today. I'm so sorry!”_ As if it was an afterthought, their _“Thank you!”_ came several seconds later.

Kei kept his responses short, and his soulmate’s writing overcrowded his own. It wasn't long before his arm was covered in black, and there was hardly a blank space to continue writing. He wouldn't know whether or not they were a person bold enough to suggest they move the conversation to their legs, because Kei found a way out. He always found ways out.

_“I need to go to bed now. Goodnight. I also need to have clean arms tomorrow.”_

He didn't really. The school uniform covered any soul marks that would remain, and no one on the team minded if someone was writing their soulmate before practice.

But Kei didn't want his soulmate to be sad when he would fervently scrub at his own writing, as if leaving the message: this connection doesn't exist.

 

* * *

 

 

When Kei woke up, his arm was covered in blurred, once-black marks. He could only imagine how raw his soulmate’s arm would be; surely they must've scrubbed hard early that morning at their writing in attempt to honor Kei’s wishes for a left arm as blank as his right.

He sighed.

It wasn't worth it to think of the other person on his skin. He didn't care about any scrubbing they did. He didn't care about how polite they were. And he most certainly did not care about how shocked and elated they'd been when they learned of his existence.

Yamaguchi wouldn't know. His family would _definitely_ not know. Any hype over his soul connection being established was to be avoided at all costs.

But Yamaguchi always knew. He knew when the boys he called his friends were calling him names behind his back. And when Kei pretended to be sick to get out of volleyball practice for a week, he'd come to his house with cookies and a ball to get him out of his stump. So when Kei tried his absolute hardest to act normal on their walk to school, Yamaguchi knew something was up right away.

“What's with you this morning?” he asked the second their paths crossed.

“Nothing.”

“Sorry, Tsukki.” He had smiled, and Kei knew there wasn't a single apology in the statement. “Really though, what is it? You're really weird today.”

Kei huffed silently, and stared ahead to avoid Yamaguchi’s questioning gaze. Then, he slowly rolled up his uniform sleeve; no amount of scrubbing could get rid of ink quick enough, and the blurred marks were unmistakable. He had a soulmate.

“Oh, I see,” Yamaguchi said simply. “Congratulations. They're not much older than you, huh. Lucky…”

“Shut up, Yamaguchi. It's not a big deal.”

Both boys knew he was lying.

 

* * *

 

 

Embarrassment was arguably the worst emotion Kei could imagine. He felt suffocated as the team crowded around him at the sight of the marks that had become blaringly obvious against his pale skin, exposed by the uniform’s short sleeves. Even the third years’ well-meant questions were too much. Yachi, though, waited for the excitement to die down before approaching him.

“I didn't know it was your birthday yesterday, Tsukishima,” she commented. “I wish I knew. I could have at least made you something…”

“It wasn't.”

“Oh, okay. That's good.” She smiled, and her shoulders visibly relaxed. Kei wondered how she could be so worried about missing a birthday she didn't know of in the first place. He told her his anyways.

“Hey Yacchan, wasn't it your birthday yesterday though?” Asahi had to ask.

And _then_ Kei knew how it felt to forget about a birthday he never even knew about.

“Oh, yes it was!” She beamed up at him, though slightly bashful, as if she'd forgotten about it herself.

“Then you probably have a soul connection now too!”

“Um, yes,” she said, and Kei’s eyes wandered to where her fingers toyed with her sleeve. “There's nothing to show though. We haven't talked much… and I think it's a shy person.”

Asahi let out a good-natured laugh. “How fitting for our Yacchan.”

 

* * *

 

 

His soulmate didn't talk much unless spoken to. And Kei made it a point not to speak to them.

Yamaguchi had pointed out how rude it was of him to ignore them. “They may not hate you as much as you pretend to hate them, you know.”

So, at midnight, just over three weeks after their connection had been made, Kei grabbed a pen. _“It's my birthday today. You're older than me.”_

_“Happy birthday!!!”_ The writing appeared below his own not a minute later, and he wondered what they were doing up so late. He wondered what he was doing up late too.

_“Thanks. My friend made me tell you.”_ Kei didn't know what he was doing, divulging this information. They didn't have to know how he had to be forced to even talk to them. He figured they must have known though; someone who liked the idea of a soulmate didn't spend weeks on end being radio — skin? — silent.

_“Your friend sounds like a good person.”_

_“He is,”_ he wrote. _So are you,_ he thought. This person was almost too kind for their own good, as if they could hold no blame towards his obvious distaste for soulmates. Clearly, there had to be insincerity hidden in each of their words. But he couldn't convince himself of it.

Kei wondered what fate was thinking when it paired him up with such a person. 

 

* * *

 

 

At practice the next morning, Yachi entered the gym with a smile on her lips and a cheerful tune from her tongue. “Good morning, everyone!”

“You're really happy today, Hitoka-chan.”

She looked up at Shimizu, startled out of her giddy daze. “Really? Oops… it's just that last night was the first time I've talked to my soulmate since my birthday, and well-”

“Whaaat?” Kei dared to say that Hinata looked outraged at the prospect. “You mean the guy hasn't even said anything since then? That's so long! I don't like that guy.” He growled out the end, but in Kei’s opinion, he sounded more like a whining dog.

“I think they're just shy,” Yachi defended, and he was reminded of what she said three weeks ago. Something at the thought of the Yachi he knew being soulmates with another shy person didn't settle with him. He'd seen the girl jump at her own shadow before. In the back of his mind, he always figured she'd end up with someone brave and exciting. And short. Someone like Hinata.

“They said it's their birthday today…”

“Huh? No way, it's Tsukki’s birthday too!”

“Shut up, Yamaguchi.” Kei averted his gaze from any curious eyes.

“That reminds me!” Yachi piped up again. “I brought this for you, Tsukishima.”

She held up a simple white envelope, which had his name written in neat, blue print. He didn't want to find the handwriting familiar, but he did. Inside the envelope was a handmade card. It was simple enough, with a generic “Happy birthday!” message, but the front was also decorated with sparkly stickers of a moon and stars. Her inside note was bordered with green tape, and a lopsided t-rex doodle grinned up at him from next to her name. And the cherry on top was a gift card for his favorite bakery in town.

Yachi saw the way his eyes widened at the whole thing, and she whispered, “I asked Yamaguchi for help, actually. I had no idea what kind of things you liked…”

When did she go to Yamaguchi? How did he not know about this? Yamaguchi _always_ told Kei about which girls came to him for information. Why did she go through the trouble of giving their entire team something special for their birthdays? He wondered all this and more, but all he could mutter was, “Thank you.”

“It was nothing!” She smiled up at him without a care in the world, but all he could think about was how perfectly her voice would fit with the words that had been on his arm just hours before.

 

* * *

 

 

Kei wasn't blind. He could put together pieces as they came to him, and frankly, the picture was staring him in the face. Yachi Hitoka was his soulmate. She was smart, creative, determined, and all too kind. In a jolting moment, Kei could picture himself falling in love with her in time, holding her hand in his, and bending down to kiss her face.

And he was terrified.

Luckily, or unluckily — he’d yet to decide which — Yachi wasn't blind either. On his desk, just a few days after his birthday, was a note to meet her by the gym after practice, once everyone was changed and on their ways home. As he approached her, he knew exactly why she trembled, because he was for the same reason.

“Um!” It wasn't much of a greeting, but Kei wouldn't have been able to think of anything better. “Roll up your sleeves please!”

He complied, and noticed the pen in her hand. Before he could stop her, she brought the pen to her other arm.

The telltale tickle came. _“Happy late birthday. Again.”_

Kei had to choke out a laugh. Looking her in the eye, he said, “Thanks.”

And when she beamed at him like he hadn't spent weeks being outright rude to her, his betraying visions of kissing her seemed closer to reality than he ever imagined.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not super happy with this, mainly cause I'm not that confident in the characterization, but it did give me a chance to write a Tsukiyachi Soulmate au, so I can't really complain.


End file.
